All the little moments
by leafs nation
Summary: Just a one-shot series I'm going to do based around Why Did You Come Back at All, including the main characters: Jane, Lilly and Clem. They might be funny, suspenseful, sad, who knows? This will fill in some of the moments between the three of them from their journey and afterwards.
1. Awkward

"Jane?" Clementine asks, causing the woman to look up from an old crossword that she had found in the basement. It only had like two of the words filled in when she discovered the old newspaper, so she figured that it'd be a good way to pass the time.

Because really, what the hell was there to do around here when you got bored?

"Yeah?" she answers, watching as the twelve year old rolls up to the coffee table in her wheelchair. She still feels horrible for the kid, but she never mentions any of this – it'd just make Clem feel worse about it. Honestly, Jane's still not sure if she's ever going to be able to walk again, but one day they'd definitely have to try it at least once. Just to see how it goes. "What's up?"

Clementine opens her mouth to speak, but closes her mouth again as she wears a puzzled frown; seeming to formulate a question in her head. Jane smirks as she does this, not bothering to hide her amusement as she watches this occur. Clem brings a whole lot more enjoyment into her life than she had originally thought she would.

"What does… _gay_ mean?"

Widening her eyes, Jane is shocked as she tries to come up with a response that would satisfy her curiosity. But how the hell do you explain this concept to a twelve year old? This wasn't supposed to happen probably for another year or two, at least to Jane's knowledge. Although, she recognizes that Clem's not your average kid – she's wise beyond her years.

Still though, why _now_?

"What are you asking me for?" Jane inquires, folding up the crossword and placing it aside while she crosses her arms across her chest.

Biting her lip, Clementine shrugs as she absentmindedly moves the chair back and forth.

"I heard Jake say it one time when they were still here," she explains with puzzlement, "I didn't know what he was talking about."

Jake and George – of course. Jake, George and their daughter, Mila, were the three people who stopped by Houston Hills looking for some refuge over a week ago. They were nice enough people, Jane supposed; didn't cause any real problems for the three of them, and the two men even went into town with Lilly one time to scout out the area. The two of them were partners, but to a young mind like Clem's, she probably wouldn't have thought they were more than good friends.

"Hmm… how do I put this…" Jane mutters, scratching her chin in thought as she tries to come up with a suitable response. "It's… when two people of the same gender – man with a man, or woman with another woman – are in a relationship together."

"Oh… you mean, they like-like each other?"

"Yeah, just like that," she chuckles, smirking at her curiosity. It's easy to forget how young Clementine is when she's capable of killing and putting down walkers all the time.

"But I thought that it was supposed to be a man liking a woman?" she asks, seemingly confused as to the concepts.

"That's usually how it goes, but not all people are the same, Clem," Jane explains, propping her head up by leaning her elbow on the couch. "Some girls like other girls, and some boys like other boys. It just happens sometimes."

"Is that… bad though? Are they sick?"

"Ha ha, no, they're not sick, kiddo," she shakes her head. "There's nothing wrong with being gay – you can't control how you feel or who you like. There are some people out there that don't agree with it, but at the end of the day… you're gonna be whoever you're meant to be. Being gay doesn't change who you are as a person. Does that answer your question?"

"Kinda," she admits sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders as she scratches her head. The kid's pretty cute when she gets stumped on something. "Did you ever know someone that was gay?"

"One of my best friends was a lesbian," I recall, clarifying when Clem looks at me with confusion, "That's what a woman's called if they're gay. There's also bisexual, transgender… but I don't think you need to worry about that stuff. The odds are pretty slim as it is of us meeting a whole lot of people out here, and it won't matter to you who they like. Sorry, lost my train of thought…"

"You said your friend was a… a lesb… les…"

"Lesbian," I correct, nodding as I remember the good old days. "Yeah, she came out a little bit after high school, but we all pretty much knew beforehand."

"Would it be weird for you?" Clem asks, genuinely curious as she listens with intent. "I mean… would it be weird knowing that your friend was a lesbian?"

"Nope, that'd be like saying that it'd be weird having a guy as your friend, because you think he'll just want to… go out with you," I stop myself, not wanting to traumatize the poor kid already. Sex ed can wait for a good long while, and what a fascinating conversation _that's _gonna be… "Anyways, someone being gay doesn't change anything, Clem. So don't go treating somebody differently if they _are _gay, alright?"

"Yeah, I know," she nods her head a couple of times, not that she'd really need a reminder. Once you get into Clem's good graces, she treats you like family.

Picking the paper back up, Jane scribbles down the word _zebra _into some of the square boxes and tries to figure the next one out; tapping fingers absentmindedly upon her thigh. When she notices that Clementine still hasn't left yet, she raises an eyebrow and glances over to her.

"Problem?"

Looking incredibly innocent, Clementine shrugs her shoulders and smirks devilishly.

"So… are you a lesbian?"

"Huh?" Jane remarks with confusion, thinking that the two of them would be over this conversation by now. "Clem, you saw me with Luke, didn't you? How are you getting this mixed up?"

"Yeah, well…" she trails off, adjusting her hat as she places her hands in her lap. "Do you like Lilly?"

If Jane had been drinking anything right then, she would've immediately shot it out through her nose and all over the table. She literally can't stop laughing, as that may have been the funniest thing she's heard in a good, long while. Jane and _Lilly?! _Is this kid freaking serious right now?!

"Oh my god…" Jane wheezes, controlling herself as she dries her eyes from chuckling so hard. "Lilly… holy shit, Clem! You're a real jokester, aren't you?"

"I'll take that as a yes then," Clementine smirks, turning around in the wheelchair as Jane's laughter immediately stops.

"What? Clem no, I – I don't! Clem, come back here!" Jane hollers, standing up and walking out into the hallway to catch up to the mischievous twelve year old. "You're asking for it, kid! Get back here!"

Jane stops in the hall when she comes face to face with the devil herself. Lilly's walking through the front door with a blank stare, probably to come and get Jane for her round of watch duty. Ever since they took over this place, they had decided to have someone on watch at almost all hours of the day, since even though they've barely run into any walkers out here, you can never be too careful.

"Where's Clem?" Jane asks, frowning as Lilly simply shrugs her shoulders.

"Probably around somewhere," Lilly tells her, handing Jane the rifle as she stretches out her back. "You're up next – have fun, you'll want to blow your brains out in boredom."

"Sometimes that's the better option…" Jane mutters solemnly, strapping the gun across her back as she prepares to head outside.

But not before Clementine appears from behind one of the walls; a mischievous glint in her eyes as she looks over at the two of them.

"Lilly," she chirps, causing Jane to turn around with wide eyes, "Jane likes you!"

Immediately quirking an eyebrow, Lilly turns around to yell something at Jane, but she's already burst outside and slammed the door behind her.

"I don't see what the problem is," Clementine remarks cheekily, which just confuses Lilly even more.

What the hell has she been filling Clem's head with?


	2. A second chance

_Lilly's POV (Just so we're clear, this is what I think she'd think, not me :P This occurs after Clementine lifts the crate off of Lilly when they're trying to escape the hardware store, after Jane had abandoned her.)_

I'm going to kill Jane. Morbid, isn't it? Well, that's the truth – I'm gonna find that cowardly shit and put a bullet right between her eyes. No remorse, no hesitation.

I've been here before, after all.

This shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish. After all, if you've got the stomach to kill Carley and are constantly reminded about it day after day while still maintaining some level of sanity, then killing some asshole who you've only known for a couple of weeks shouldn't be a challenge. Nobody will miss her… it'll seem like she got killed by the walkers that she was too stubborn to ignore around here. If she hadn't been so blind to the threat, then we could've been out of Howe's ages ago – safe and sound.

Instead, Jane waits in a stupid attempt to hold onto this box, unwilling to let go of the one good thing she may have actually had. Wake the fuck up!

My ribs and stomach are killing me after having that crate dropped on me… but why the hell couldn't Clementine have just left me to die? What am I to her? Just the bitch that killed Carley, that's what I had originally thought. But if that were the case, then why did she come back? Does… does Clementine actually _care?_

Huh… maybe I should try harder with that kid. Not the baby – that thing's just a time bomb, and if the way that he was leaning on the edge of that shelf was any indication, then he's one slip away from ending up as a walker sandwich.

I meant what I said to Clem, though – AJ's not safe, and he's going to get one of us killed. Not that he can help it of course, but still… having a baby under these conditions was fucking stupid. How could his parents possibly have thought that that was a good idea? Little to no food, crying every second of the day… yeah sure, the sentiment might be nice, but the planning left something to be desired. With the number of close calls we had back at the motor-inn _without _having to worry about a baby, that kid's days are numbered. Clementine, as hard as she tried, can't take care of a baby all by herself – it's just not physically possible, not for her age. I had wanted to talk about that fact earlier, but all that came out was that we should leave him behind.

Go ahead – call me a stone-cold, heartless asshole. I know you want to say something along those lines. Everyone does these days…

But Jane… She'd better watch out. I swear to Christ, if I find her first, I'm gonna wring my hands so tightly around her neck… She's had it out for me ever since I got here to Howe's; wanted me dead and gone the second that I walked through the door. She doesn't think I've noticed, but I've seen her plotting… coming up with ways to get rid of me or kill me and make it look like an accident. She's practically got Clem in the palm of her hand, but she doesn't owe a damn thing to that dangerous bitch. There's enough sliminess going around, and we certainly don't need more with Jane plotting behind everyone's back.

And how dare she accuse me of trying to steal the supplies! I was trying to _help _around the store, not gut them and take off with a bag full of expired cans of corn! Not that it really matters now – in the end, places like Howe's don't last. Just because you have a wall doesn't mean you can outlast an army of the dead, and just because you have a group doesn't mean that the people are all trustworthy.

I'll admit that I've had some… issues… in the past, with previous group members not trusting me. Carley, Kenny, Ben, Katjaa… hell, maybe even Lee at one point.

But people like Jane? They're cunning and crafty, prone to wander off on their own when the going gets tough.

Fuck… I guess that I kind of just described myself there, didn't I? Shit…

Regardless, she needs to go. Jane has no real connection to Clem – any notion that she does is completely phony. It's just her trying to cover up the fact that Jane cares more about herself than anyone else. I'm willing to lay my life down on the line for Clementine – I owe her and Lee that much. But Jane? You watch, the second that she sees a better opportunity, she'll leave.

Don't tell me that I'm no better than anyone else, because I know that I'm not. Yes, I stole the RV and turned tail… but what other choice did I have? Everyone thought I was a menace; a crazy person with a bruised ego that should never have been a leader in the first place. I kept that group going for three months! I stepped up when nobody else would, and they all HATED me for it!

And if we had just left that motherfucking dairy when I had suggested, instead of sticking around for dinner, then… god damn it, Dad…

I miss him every day… and he was taken away from me… by Kenny… I never forgave him for that, nor would I ever if he was actually still alive.

That's the other thing that shocked me – it came down to _Clementine _of all people? After all of his bullshit, all of his craziness, it simply took an eleven year old to finally bring him down.

Though I suppose that even the smallest of people can still make a difference, and Clem's a prime example of that. Now if Jane wasn't all up in her head all the time, then we probably wouldn't have any issues. Clem and I would've made a great team, and we've proven that already. Fighting off Mike, Bonnie and Arvo, going out on supply runs, fixing things up around the store… People like Clementine actually know what to do and how to do it – she's in the right headspace, and I totally wish that I was the same way. With my survival smarts and her instincts, there wouldn't be any stopping us until death itself. But fucking Jane has to be there and get in the way of EVERYTHING!

…I can't believe this. I'm jealous. I'm fucking _jealous _of _Jane. _

How could this possibly have happened?! Again?!

First I was jealous of Carley (only a little bit) since she and Lee were practically always on the same page with each other, and now I'm jealous of Jane because she's taking Clementine away and holding her back; trying to turn her into another version of herself. I moved from being jealous over a crush, to jealous over a friend.

I'm not the… nicest person on the planet, yeah, I get that. And sure, maybe I can be a bit rough around the edges with people at times.

But there's always someone willing to put up with your crazy – Lee and Clem were willing, so maybe that's why I felt more connected to them than anyone else in the group (well, besides my dad of course). I didn't want to lose the only people who cared… yet that's what I did. I pushed them away; isolated myself from Lee and Clem when they were only trying to help.

My biggest regret isn't killing Carley.

My biggest one was not thanking the people who actually cared.

Right now, I'll make a promise – I won't make that same mistake again. It might be too late for Lee, but I'm going to try and do better by Clementine. No matter what, her life comes first. I won't push her away, and I'll make sure that she's safe. Safe from walkers, safe from bandits, definitely safe from Jane…

…but also safe from myself.

As I manage to get around the walkers while only having to put down one or two, I suddenly have Jane in my sights. This would be so easy to do right now – just line up the shot, steady the gun and pull the trigger. It'd seem like a walker attack, and Clem and I could start off together without dealing with her nonsense anymore. We could head up north – the safest place we can find, and then… I'm not really sure. Survive, I guess.

I pull my pistol about halfway out of my pocket; the rubber texture of the handle sliding against my fingers as my eyes narrow in hatred. I pull the gun out fully and shakily hold it in both hands; seething with rage and wanting nothing more than to shoot. Just one bullet is literally all it would take to end her miserable life…

But then I think back on that Carley incident again, as it has circulated for the past two years. That's when people started to distrust me… when _Lee and Clementine _started to distrust me. They just didn't understand, but it wouldn't have mattered much if they actually did anyways. I would've been trapped like a caged animal for the rest of my days, before Kenny would finally lose his temper and butcher me – just like he did to my dad.

Grinding my teeth and biting my lip so hard that it bleeds, I groan in annoyance and reluctantly put the gun back in my pocket.

_BANG!_

…that wasn't me, and it wasn't from Jane either. So the only other person that could've fired that bullet around here would be…

Looking at me with wide eyes, Jane sprints down the path as I follow along; checking the trees in case any of our walker friends decide to tag along too. Jane takes down one of them with her knife, but there aren't any scraps left over for me.

"She better be alright…" I mutter to Jane, not looking at her eyes as we continue to jog forward. "Your life depends on it."

"You can certainly try," she replies cockily, making my blood boil even further. But I say nothing as we come over the last stretch of hill that it takes, for we see Clementine just standing there in complete despair and emptiness; holding her pistol lazily at her side.

And the baby… Clementine must have had to…

"Clem?" Jane calls out quietly, backing away as she tries to tap her shoulder.

As for me, I look upon Clem's miserable form and inwardly sigh. This isn't something that's just going to get brushed under the rug.

But maybe this could be a starting point – a chance for me to finally be there for Clementine, even if she hates me for it.

After all, it's the least I can do.


	3. Coming to terms

_Jane's POV_

"Hell no," Lilly firmly disagrees, shaking her head in protest and placing her hands on her hips. "There's no way that that's happening. Not in a million years."

"Come on, Lilly! Give me a chance! Please?" Clementine begs, seeming to really want to prove herself as she turns towards me. "Come on Jane, you know I can do it! You guys won't be gone for too long – what's the worst that could happen?"

"Don't jinx in, Clem. Besides, the worst case scenario happens every day with the world the way it is now," Lilly reminds us, in which case I'd have to agree. There's just too much that can go wrong; too many precautions that we have to take.

It's not that we don't trust her to stay safe by herself while Lilly and I go scout out some old factory a ways down the road. The reason we're both hesitant about it is… well, to be frank, Clem's still in a wheelchair. How is she supposed to shoot properly, or get away from walkers without one of us here to help her out?

Still, it might be just as cruel to not let her try it at least once – what kind of message would we be sending the poor kid? That because of your condition you can no longer look after yourself? Clem's always been independent as long as I've known her, but obviously Lilly knew her before. But seeing her golden eyes looking up at me expectantly like that, I'm finding it hard to say no.

"We should give her a chance to prove herself," I comment, as Lilly shrugs but still seems hesitant about it; justifiably so. "But first, we need to put in some ground rules here. You know, the usual shit."

"Sounds fair," Clementine nods, happy that she's being given an opportunity like this.

"Pistol with you at all times," I tell her, nodding as she puts it into her lap. "All the doors stay shut and locked until we get back, and don't answer for _anybody _until we're here. Keep your ears open, and be ready for anything suspicious. Got it?"

"Yeah, Jane," Clem encourages, shifting a little bit in her chair, "I can handle it. You can trust me."

"I know we can," I nod firmly, patting her shoulder before turning towards Lilly. "Well? Should we get going?"

Pausing for a moment and looking at the porch below us, for a split second I think that Lilly's going to change her mind and just send me out to investigate the place myself. Clementine looks on expectantly, grasping onto the door and getting ready to lock us outside.

After a little while though, Lilly caves and turns on her heel.

"We'll be back in a few hours at the most," I tell her, to which the little girl smiles widely and shuts the door. Once I hear the lock turn around, I sigh heavily and walk up beside Lilly down the stone driveway; neither of us speaking for a moment as we start to head out.

Honestly, we've got no idea what we're going to find in this place, or if this trip is even going to be worthwhile. However, not checking it out might be an even worse idea if it turns out this factory has some stuff we can use.

Besides, I was getting kind of tired of being cooped up in the house all the time. It's nice to get some fresh air for a change, and a chance to stretch my legs out a bit.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jane," Lilly remarks off-handedly, causing me to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"With… what?"

"With Clementine," she answers, rolling her eyes at how obvious she thinks this is. "Didn't we both agree that it's best to watch out for her? Make sure that nothing else would happen to her? Well this right here, this isn't the way to do it – leaving her alone in the house while we're of scouting somewhere."

"I couldn't break her spirit – not again. We've already put her on a march through hell," I comment, thinking back to my conversation about Jaime. That seems like such a long time ago now… "It's our fault that she's in that chair, regardless of her not wearing a seatbelt. The least we can do is keep her confidence alive."

"Yeah? Well, her confidence won't do much good if a herd of walkers decide to break through the damn door while we're gone."

"You're one of those _glass is half empty _kind of people, aren't you?"

"Shut up, Jane…"

….

About a half hour's walk later, we've arrived at our destination. The sign has been completely torn off the front entrance of the building, so there's really no telling what could be inside – living or dead. Pulling my pistol out of my back pocket, I try opening the door as Lilly stands guard behind me with her hunting rifle. Unfortunately, this place is locked up tight and doesn't seem to be budging with the way we're going.

"There's a padlock on it, genius," Lilly remarks sarcastically, as I give her the middle finger and pull out the trusty nail file. I ended up keeping it after the whole icy lake incident back then.

"I'll get to work on this. Could you do something productive for a change and watch my back?" I tell her snidely, smirking to myself as she simply huffs and turns around without another word. Bugging the hell out of Lilly is one of the most enjoyable things that I take out of our group, and I've even noticed Clem get in on the fun once or twice. It usually stops though after Lilly gets _really _pissed, but thankfully she seems to realize that we're just kidding around.

I reflect on my thoughts about the angry third member of our little posse as I start shimmying the nail file into the padlock. What changed between us, and when? I always remembered that the two of us couldn't stand to be breathing in the same fucking air for more than ten seconds at a time before yelling at each other, and that was on a good day. If it wasn't for Clementine, then one of us would surely be dead by now – with the way that her temper can go off sometimes, I'm pretty sure it'd be me.

But something happened along the way… a sort of silent peace treaty between the two of us, where somehow we managed to come to terms with each other and just accept that this is the way it had to be. I'm almost certain that it happened when we were in Mexico, but nothing was ever said. We didn't need to use words in order to come to a consensus – we saw each other on a whole new level, and we both realized that there wasn't any point in fighting each other anymore. There were a whole whack of worse people out there than us, and continuing to bitch at each other was going to get us both killed.

Or worse… Clementine.

We'd both go to the last breath to keep her alive, which is really weird – for me especially. Before this, I never would have even dreamed about putting my life on the line for someone else, especially if it wasn't someone related to me. I didn't even do it for Luke, and we… well, you know what happened. Instead of going out there myself, I watched as Bonnie practically guilt-tripped Clementine into stepping out onto the thin ice in a vain attempt to save him. She risked her life for a guy that she'd known for maybe a month, and I didn't even move an inch. It wasn't until Clem went down that I actually felt my legs working again.

And what the fuck did Bonnie do? She literally just stood there and watched as they both fell through, didn't even try to help after they both went under. She could play the sad, broken woman act all day long, and she fit the role perfectly. Everyone would feel bad for her, and nobody would question it – they all knew how she felt about Luke.

Whatever, she's dead and gone now, and I'm getting ahead of myself.

After a few more twists and turns, I rejoice when I hear the sweet _click _sound coming from the padlock.

"Got it," I call over my shoulder, standing up and stretching out my sore back before slowly putting my hand over the door knob. Holding the pistol up beside me, I twist the handle with the three fingers that I have remaining on my left hand – I'm still getting used to that.

Poking my head inside, I hold the weapon out in front of me and instantly take down a walker that was wandering about near the main entrance; the bullet echoing off the high ceiling and throughout the factory as a few more groans are heard.

"Nice one, dumbass," Lilly hisses, taking out a knife and stabbing one of the walkers in the brain. "Why don't we wake up the whole neighbourhood while we're at it?"

"Where's the third one?" I whisper, ignoring her remarks as I check the walker that I just killed for supplies. This guy must've turned just a little while ago, as he's got a full clip of ammo along with a silver revolver – perfect for a Texas Ranger like myself. I snatch up the gun and see our buddy slamming his shambling arms against the glass of one of the office buildings, noticing that there's a chair propped up against the door that's preventing him from getting out.

But that's not the cool part about this place – this is a mattress factory, with a showroom and everything!

Lilly fires a bullet through the glass and silences the last walker in the building, while I hurry on over to some of the beds. I feel like fucking Goldilocks and the Three Bears right now!

"Too hard," I say, rolling over the mattress as Lilly looks through the shattered office window – no dice.

"Too soft," I remark, practically getting swallowed by the mattress as I squirm my way out of its tight embrace. Lilly walks over to me, completely confused.

"What are you doing over here?" she asks, probably wondering why I, a grown woman, would be dicking around in a place like this.

"Getting comfortable," I reply simply, hopping onto the last bed and not ever wanting to leave as soon as my head hits the pillow. "Oh my god, Lilly… you _need _to try this out! This is the comfiest mattress of all time… Ahh…"

"Is this literally all you came here for? You dragged me out here to sit on a fucking bed?!" Lilly scowls as I start to relax for a moment, patting the spot beside me as I encourage her to try it out. "You're unbelievable…"

"Come on, Lilly! You know you love me!" I call out with a smirk, watching as she begins to scout ahead for any supplies.

"Well apparently it's the other way around…" Lilly mumbles, catching me off guard as I think back to the sneaky, little devil named Clementine. Trying to retort to that's just going to increase Lilly's suspicions, so I say nothing but huff out a sigh of annoyance and fold my arms across my chest; staring intently at the ceiling.

Only Lilly could take my one shred of fun and flush it down the toilet – she's got that effect on people sometimes. She's always so serious, and even though I'll admit that that mentality has saved our asses on more than one occasion, it still begs the question… is her only purpose anymore to survive? I mean, there's got to be a little room to enjoy your life, even if it's filled with walking corpses trying to eat you at almost every turn.

"Scoot over," she interrupts my train of thought, surprising me as I shuffle my body to the right side of the bed. Once I feel her weight collapse onto the left side (which really isn't much, since I doubt that she's been eating properly), I hear her sigh in content. "…yeah, that's pretty nice actually."

"Told ya," I say as the both of us stare at the ceiling; neither of us really wanting to spoil the moment right now.

Lilly and I sitting on a bed together in an abandoned factory as a couple of friends… if someone had told me that this would happen back after I first met her, then I probably would've keeled over from laughing so hard. This is the one thing that I would've never seen us doing in a billion years, not that I had expected her to last this long with Clem and I in the first place. Instincts are telling me that I should get off and go back to the lukewarm companionship that we had before, but I think this is better in a way. Truth be told, the constant fighting was getting a little bit worn out, and I'd much rather have Lilly as a friend than an enemy.

Friend… huh, that's new. _Fffffrrrriiiieeeennndddd…. _That's kind of a foreign word on my tongue, isn't it?

After about five minutes or so of silence, I reluctantly sit up and poke Lilly in the side a couple of times, indicating that we need to get going.

"But we're taking this thing with us," I add, smirking as she gives me a look that makes me seem crazy. Well, crazier than usual, anyways. "Come on, help me lift this thing."

"I swear that sometimes you've lost your mind, Jane."

…

"Almost there…" I wheeze, glad to see Houston Hills just up ahead as I carry my part of the mattress behind my back. Lilly's got the opposite end, and she seems to be having just as much trouble as I am. "Put your back into it!"

"You're… an asshole," she breathes out, causing me to chuckle as we keep walking. The stones rattle below our feet as we work our way towards the front of the house; wanting nothing more than to just put this thing down and lay on it again. "Where the hell… are we even gonna put this thing?"

"I'll think of something, don't worry."

"Jesus…"

Walking with our load up to the front steps, I carefully lift my end upwards – almost tripping myself in the process. Lilly drags her end of the bed upwards until we finally manage to make it all the way up to the top. Wiping the sweat off my brow from the hot, Texas sun, I knock on the door five times before calling out.

"Clem, it's us," I yell, leaning one arm on top of the mattress. "It's Lilly and Jane, let us in."

Lilly drums her fingers along her leg as we wait for a response from the other side. It's pretty easy to tell that Clem's coming to the front because of the wheels she's got, so I patiently stand here and await her presence. Boy, will she ever be surprised when she finds out we –

As soon as Clementine opens the door, I'm interrupted by a barrage of silly string that completely covers my face, jacket and hair, hearing a barrel of laughs from the kid as she also empties her canister on Lilly as well. I literally don't know how to respond as Clementine cries from laughing so hard, and it's fortunate for everybody that Lilly hasn't popped a gasket yet.

Yanking some of the shit off of my face, I immediately roll it into a ball and stare at Clementine with a wicked glint in my eyes – this means war.

"Come… come on, Jane! I was just kidding around!" she chuckles nervously, wheeling back into the house and quickly closing the door behind her in a vain attempt to escape me.

"You're so getting it, Clementine!" I call out after her, peeling into the house as Lilly continues to stand there in shock.

Just another average day at Houston Hills, I suppose.


	4. Secret sisters

_Clementine's POV_

It's been at least two and a half months since we've moved into this place – _two whole months_, and we've had maybe four walkers stroll by. I haven't felt as safe and protected as we are now since before this whole mess began. Sure, we've had the occasional group of survivors wander on over to our little slice of paradise, but ultimately any that we've come across have ended up moving on. Whether it's because of our… less than friendly attitudes to strangers, I'm not entirely sure. But three's still the magic number, and we'd prefer to keep it that way for the most part.

We really haven't needed to talk about getting a bigger group because for the most part, what we've got is working. We've got a routine going here; a system, and it's finally giving us a sense of normalcy. Well, if you can call three girls living together in a house they found in Texas to escape the dead _normal_.

But why would we want to shift up the dynamics now? Just like Lilly and Jane had told me before – the more people you have, the more dangerous it gets. Better to stick together with people that you know have the same goals in mind as you do, and it doesn't hurt when they both care about you as much as you do about them.

However, my latest attempt at a prank on the two women didn't exactly have the desired effect that I had originally hoped it would… Cleaning the main floor of the house is a pretty crappy punishment.

But the looks on Jane and Lilly's faces after I had sprayed them with silly string? Totally worth it!

Right now though, I'm not exactly cleaning the house – mainly just sorting through some of our weapons and ammo. We've got a big stash of weaponry around this house, and we always make sure that we leave them in the same spot every single time. That way, we won't lose track of anything and can always make sure that we're safe. Having a rifle go off in the living room because we left our stuff lying about would be really stupid, not to mention really loud and dangerous.

Let's see… pistols on the left, hunting rifles in the middle, machine guns on the right… I never actually use anything but a pistol, but maybe I can graduate to the more heavy-duty ones someday. It's the ammo that gives me the most trouble though. I always forget which bullets go with which gun.

"I think you've served your sentence for long enough," Jane comments, wiping the last of the silly string from her hair as I turn my head and see her wander into the kitchen with me.

"_No she hasn't!" _I hear Lilly call from the bathroom, causing me to blush slightly from embarrassment.

"It seemed funny at the time…" I say with a sheepish shrug, trying my best not to scatter the ammunition around as Jane comes over to look at my progress. "I should know this stuff by now."

"You've got the pistol bullets mixed up with the rifle ones," she points out, correcting me as she switches them around on the counter. "Other than that, you're good to go. I think we should all hit the hay. Come on."

"Awww…. Can't I stay up for another hour to watch TV? _Pleeeeease?_" I ask dramatically, getting a friendly chuckle out of Jane as she rolls her eyes.

"Hell, if we still had television, I don't think that I'd be coming out of the living room anytime soon," she comments dryly, following me as I start to roll down the hallway. She looks upon me for a brief second of sadness, but immediately brushes the face away as she catches me staring at her.

"Could we… try it again?" I ask pensively, gesturing down to the wheelchair as she bites her lip. "It's been a while, so… maybe they work now! I can feel my legs, Jane, I know it. Please?"

Running a hand through her now silly string-free hair, Jane nods and bends down in front of me, just like before when we tried this.

"Easy now," she says, putting her hands underneath my armpits, "just like before, alright? We'll go slow on the count of three. Ready? One, two, three!"

Extremely wobbly, Jane starts to lift my body up out of the chair as I place my hands firmly onto her shoulders. There are butterflies in my stomach again as I feel myself getting out of the chair, and for a second I feel free. Maybe today's the day that I'll finally not have to stay sitting down, and that Jane and Lilly won't have to constantly feel like they're carrying excess baggage around!

"That's it… easy does it," she encourages as I see Lilly step out of the bathroom with a heavy heart. "Okay… can you try moving your left leg forward for me?"

Nodding hesitantly, I look down and try my best to move my leg forward; extremely scrawny as they are since I haven't used them in so long. It turns out that I'm not completely paralyzed as we had once thought, but that doesn't mean that I can walk properly.

The evidence of this is clear as I try to step forward and end up collapsing right into Jane's arms; almost falling flat on my face as I discouragingly squeeze my eyes tightly.

"Damn it…" I choke out, holding back tears as yet another attempt at this fails. "God… damn it…"

"It's alright, Clem. I've gotcha," she soothes comfortingly, a trait that I'm proud to say I helped develop within her over the past few months or so. "You're getting closer, I'm sure of it. We just might need to wait a little while and then – "

"Please don't lie to me, Jane…" I mutter into her shirt, feeling Lilly wrap her arms around my stomach and pulling me back into the wheelchair. "We both know this isn't gonna work… Why bother getting my hopes up?"

Giving me one last sad look, Jane puts her hands in her pockets as I silently roll into my room on the main floor; shutting the door behind me and getting ready to sleep.

But no slumber comes to me as I continue to stare at the ceiling; so many thoughts clouding my mind.

….

It's about thirty minutes or so before I hear my door creak open a little bit, noticing that Jane's popped her head inside with an apologetic look on her face.

"Sorry… I was just checking to see if you were asleep yet. Lilly's got lookout duty for a little bit, and I just wanted to make sure you were alright," she explains, nodding her head and preparing to exit again. "I'll leave you alone."

"Jane, wait…"

Turning towards me, Jane pokes her head back in as I fiddle with the blanket that's on top of me.

"Could you… could you stay with me for a bit?" I ask shyly, suddenly feeling more like an eight year old girl than the tough, survivalist twelve year old that I'd become. "Please?"

"Oh, umm… sure, alright," she nods quietly, stepping inside and pulling up a nearby chair to sit beside me. This woman's turned into a lifeline for me, I swear. "So… what did I get into trouble for this time, huh?"

"You suck," I joke, playfully sticking my tongue out at her as the both of us relax a little bit.

"Seriously though," she continues, looking at me with intent, "is there anything wrong? You seemed pretty upset tonight."

"Jane, I'm not… I'm not a _burden_, am I?" I question, the mood turning kind of sombre as I sit upright to talk to her. "I mean, isn't that why you wanted to leave Sarah? Because she couldn't handle living in a world like this with the way she was?"

"Clementine, why are asking me this?"

"Wouldn't it be easier for you and Lilly to just… leave?" I continue, ignoring her question as I stare into her eyes. "If there's a herd of walkers that comes by like what happened at Howe's, then I'd just be slowing you guys down! How am I supposed to move out there in a freaking wheelchair?! You and Lilly constantly have to help me get around, and… and you shouldn't have to…"

"Clem, listen to me," Jane orders firmly, placing a strong hand on my shoulder that demands my attention. "You're not a burden, okay? You're the furthest thing from being a burden, and I wouldn't abandon you even if you were. I made a promise to you, remember? And I'm not gonna give up on you if you haven't given up on me. This is just something that'll take some getting used to, and we'll make it work somehow."

She's right in a way. This is a test, not only of my physical abilities, but also of my will and character. It's also a test of how strong our friendship has truly become, since if this had happened when she first met me, I've no doubt that Jane would take off and leave me to face the world on my own. Lilly would've probably ended up doing the same thing.

But these are my friends… the closest and last ones that I've got, and for that I'm eternally grateful.

"Jaime felt the same way at one point," she recalls, going off into her own little world as I listen intently. Jane doesn't really like to talk about Jaime too often, so this must be a special occasion. "When all of this shit started happening, I wanted to take her away from it all and just head off to an island or something – some place where we could start from scratch and not have to worry about what others thought of us. We tried to get a boat out to the Atlantic, but there was no way that we were getting out there. Too many people had the same idea. But Jaime just constantly thought that she was… bringing me down and getting her into trouble. I'd try to convince her that she wasn't the problem, but she'd never listen to me."

"I'm sorry, Jane… that must've been hard."

"…yeah, it was for a while. She wasn't built to live out in a world like this – she never got the independence that I did after getting kicked out of the house," she recalls, twirling the nail file loosely around between her fingers. "But she just wouldn't shake that belief – Jaime literally thought that her being alive was going to get me killed as well. And she kept repeating that so fucking much that I started… _believing it_. So on the day she died, we got cornered by a big group of walkers and had to make our way up to the roof. I took one look into her eyes… and a part of me snapped in half."

"I knew what she wanted… I fucking knew, and I gave it to her…" Jane rants, having not told this part of the story to me or to anyone as far as I know. She rubs her eyes to prevent any tears from coming through. "Left her to die like a fucking animal, and I could hear her screams in my head for a year until I just… stopped. I stopped caring about people; stopped caring whether people lived or died. The only thing on my mind was trying to survive. For what, I still don't know, but it worked for a while. Moved from place to place until I ended up getting to Carver's camp. You know the rest."

I don't really know what to say that could comfort the woman, even though she probably came in here thinking that she was supposed to be comforting _me_ – not the other way around.

But my gut tells me that I need to do something; anything to try and make her feel better about the whole situation. Losing your family's the worst feeling in the world by far, and no amount of words can really help to stop the constant ache in your soul.

However… I'm not sure if this is inappropriate of me to say or not. Here goes nothing, I guess.

"Jane…" I tell her quietly, taking her hand in mine and squeezing tightly; desperately hoping that this goes over well. "I… I've never had a sibling before. Maybe… maybe you and I could be like… sisters?"

The older woman looks upon me for a few seconds, not saying anything as she studies my face. Was that too soon, or was it rude of me say something like that? God, how could I have been so stupid?!

My guilt only grows as Jane puts her head in her hand and starts sobbing… _loudly_. Yeah, you heard right – the calm, collected Jane is bawling her eyes out at the mere suggestion that we could be siblings. What a sham I've just suggested!

"Oh no, Jane, I'm so sorry…" I apologize, feeling even worse as I think that she's found that remark offensive.

But she really takes me by surprise when she shakes her head and squeezes onto my hand tightly.

"No…" she replies, her voice muffled as she tries to calm herself down a little bit. "I… I'd like that… Thank you, Clem. I mean it…"

Leaning my head against her shoulder, I sigh as the relief washes over me; thankful that that went better than I thought it would. I had thought for sure that Jane would've lashed out at me for even suggesting that. Nobody could replace the sister she had lost, and that me trying to pretend to fill the gap would've been an insult to her memory.

But then I realize something important – we've been like sisters ever since we came back to Howe's.

"Do I have to sign a contract or something?" Jane jokes, sniffing as she wipes her eyes with her sleeve. "Make this official or some shit?"

"I don't think so," I smirk, a mischievous gleam in my eyes as I look up to her face. "But just so you know, that means that I get free piggyback rides from now on."

"Is that right?" she comments, rolling her eyes as she sits up on the bed with me. "Well, it's a well-known fact that as the older sister, I get to take your rations for myself whenever I please."

"You just made that whole thing up!"

"Nope, that's the rule," she tells me as I give up on trying to change her mind. I really hope she's joking about that… "How's about this – instead of either of those things, we make a vow to pull pranks on Lilly whenever she's not in a shitty mood? I know you can come up with something better than silly string, Clem."

"Deal," I smirk, nodding my head as we chuckle and shake on it. "But wait… if we're both sisters now, then what does that make Lilly? Can she be a sister, too?"

"Yeah, I guess…" Jane shrugs, looking out the window and seeing that she's still sitting on the porch with a rifle in her hand. "She can be the naggy sister who constantly tries to rat you out and tells you to eat your vegetables. I bet she'd get a kick out of that."

Nodding, I quietly yawn as Jane sets me back down in a more comfortable position to sleep.

"Get some rest, kiddo," she tells me, standing up as I watch her start to make her exit. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Night… sis…" I whisper without thinking, causing her to slightly smile and nod towards me.

"Yeah… you bet," she finishes, shutting the door and leaving me to my dreams.

_AN: Alright, I'm gonna stop it here for now, since… drumroll please… I'm going to try and do a sequel to Why Did You Come Back at All! That's right folks, part two is going to come eventually, as soon as I figure out where to take it. I'm pretty sure that the first chapter is going to take place after what happens right here, so hopefully all will go well with it. Considering the amount of awesome support and love that I got from the last story, I don't think that that'll be much of a problem :)_

_Anyways, stay classy my faithful readers, and I'll try to think of some interesting twists that I can do for part two! I'll keep this story as unfinished in case I think of some more one-shots to do. Until then, thanks for reading!_

_Leafs nation _


	5. Pictures are worth thousands of words

_Jane's POV_

…I can't sleep. No matter what I do – no matter how much I toss and turn to try and get comfortable – it doesn't make a lick of difference. It' not as if the couch is _that _uncomfortable, after all, I've slept on far worse.

Yawning and stretching my arms up, I groan as I look out the window. It's still pitch-black out there, which sucks 'cause I was hoping that we'd be able to get back on the road again first thing.

Resting my legs over the furniture, I try to adjust my eyes to the dark like a cat. You know, for not having been tended to in over two years, Clem's old house isn't actually too bad. We can lock the front door if we want to (which I'm highly tempted to do, considering how grumpy Miss Caul has been recently), lots of open space for us to kick back, and Clem seemed to be pretty happy that we came here. Probably has a hole load of memories of happier times here, and it's nice to see the kid relatively content for a change.

Although I still highly doubt that she's fully gotten over AJ at this point…

I'll be honest – I never thought much of Alvin Junior. And no, I didn't leave the poor kid in the car for that very reason. It's just that… I don't know, maybe it was inevitable. Clem's still a kid herself, and neither Lilly or I would've really known how to take care of a baby in the middle of all this.

I mean, what was he gonna do? Suddenly grow up overnight and start shooting guns around? It doesn't work that way.

But Clem… it broke that kid most of all. The usual glow in her soft, yellow eyes had faded that day, and I couldn't help but feel discouraged at how depressed she was getting. I mean, what happened to the determined, hopeful little girl that I met back at Howe's? I could tell that she was special there; that she was different from the whackos that she was surrounded by. I shooed her away at first, not wanting to have to get to know another kid who would eventually get killed like all the rest.

But after seeing what she could really be capable of… it kind of scared me a little bit, truth be told. How could an eleven year old be some independent; so strong? I had never seen anything like it – Jaime and Sarah definitely weren't that way. Hell, even most of the adults weren't even built like Clementine, so that's gotta be saying something.

Swinging my legs off the couch in the living room, I stop to turn my head as something catches my eye. Standing up, I walk over to the far wall and squint my eyes; trying to make out what's hung there.

Wiping a thin layer of dust off and sneezing as it gets into my nose, I take what looks to be some kind of picture frame and walk over to the kitchen with it; the light of the moon allowing me to faintly see what's in it.

Huh… so that's what Clem looked like as a kid. And those must be… _sigh_. Everybody's lost someone in their lives, I suppose.

It's kind of funny seeing what she used to look like back in the day – damn, her hair was long back then! It's like a fucking bush was growing on her head!

Smirking slightly, I glance over the photo a little bit more before carefully placing it back on the kitchen counter. Looks like they were a happy family once… I bet Clem misses them quite a bit.

Speaking of which, where is that little hooligan at now?

Heading back up the stairs at a slow jog, I frown in confusion when I see that all of the rooms are empty; not a living soul in sight.

"Where the hell…?" I cut myself off, looking out the window to the backyard. Sure enough, up in the treehouse is a dim flashlight shining around, and I sigh before making my way outside. What the hell is she doing up there?

Stepping out into the crisp, night air, I take a second to let the cool breeze blow past me as I close my eyes. This is so _relaxing_ – it's such a nice change from all of the bullshit that we usually have to put up with. It's been a nice, quiet night, with no walkers wandering around and no other assholes coming to try and pillage our supplies.

Starting my climb up the wooden ladder and hoping that I don't cause the whole thing to collapse, I knock a couple of times on the entrance before opening the hatch. Instantly the girl aims her flashlight over in my face, blinding me as I turn my gaze to the side in vain.

"Jesus, Clem! It's me! I'd like to actually be able to see again, thank you very much!" I complain, getting a quiet apology as I pull myself fully in. "Nice pad you've got here. All you need is a beer fridge and you'd be all set."

"That stuff tasted like ass."

"Ha, yeah… I bet it did," I chuckle quietly, nodding as I scoot on to the other side of her and pull my knees up to my chest. This place is more than a little small for me, but it's not straining on my neck at least.

As she gives me a knowing look, I recall that night back at Howe's where she, Lilly and I were all drinking up on the roof. Well… I _sort of _recall what happened, up until I got to around half my bottle of gin finished. After that's kind of a blur.

"How bad were we that night?" I question, assuming that she knows exactly what I'm talking about. "Tell me honestly – were we being a couple of shitheads? Because I barely remember waking up the next morning, let alone what happened while we were drunk."

Looking rather down about the whole thing, I inwardly cringe as she relays the story to me. "It was going well for a little while," she explains with a shrug, leaning one leg flat out as she curls the other towards her. "You and Lilly were having fun, and it actually looked like you two were _friends_."

"Bullshit."

"I'm serious! You guys looked like the best of friends," she exclaims with a smirk, still holding onto the flashlight as she twirls it around absentmindedly. "But after that… you guys started arguing. You said something about not trusting Lilly, and then she got angry and hit you in the head. You kicked her in the stomach and tried to push her off the roof… She'd be dead if I didn't pull her up."

Rubbing my eyes in slight regret, I quietly sigh as I shake my head. I can't say that I _liked _her, per say, but I wouldn't have actually wanted her to _die_ either. She's one of us now, whether I like it or not, and it seems that it's gonna stay that way for now.

"Damn it… Shit," I mutter, frowning as I glance back towards my young charge. "…well, it's a good thing you were around, huh? Otherwise our group might just be down to two now!"

"…it should be four…"

Fuck… great job, Jane! How do you manage to somehow make every conversation you have into some depressing, emotional sob story that makes you feel even worse than you did before? Clem's sitting over there under so much inner turmoil and personal grief, and yet here you are – making things worse by bringing up the taboo topic.

Why am I talking to myself in the third person, again?

"Clem…" I try, tilting her chin up to get her to look at me. She's so zapped of energy that she doesn't even try to bat her away. "Look… what happened back at Howe's? That wasn't your fault, okay? You made a choice, same as the rest of us."

"That _choice _got AJ killed!" Clem retorts, curling into a tight ball as she places her chin on her knees. She's taking this _really _badly.

Time to go to plan B.

"Stop and think about it, though," I tell her, finding it odd that I'm the one giving out a pep talk like this. "Clem, without you around to take care of the guy, AJ… he wouldn't have lasted the week, let alone a month and a half. You gave him a shot out here – not too many people can say the same. Rebecca… I think she'd be proud of you."

Sniffling, Clem lets out a small round of sobs as she shakes her head in denial. Obviously this is something that's going to take some time, that's for sure. But I don't want this guilt bottling up inside of her – guilt eats away at you until one day… _BOOM! _Totally and utterly enraptures you until you lash out and do something stupid.

Such as abandoning Lilly underneath a fucking box at Howe's.

Pushing this to the side for now, as Clem's still the top priority for now, I slide over to her side as I wait for her to fully calm down; flinching only a little bit as she rests her head against my shoulder.

"I…I could've done… m-more…" she whimpers, looking incredibly vulnerable as I huff out a sigh. I hate seeing this kid so upset…

Cautiously bringing my arm up in the air, I awkwardly wrap it around her shoulders; wondering if she'll get uncomfortable. I know that I'm not the most _cuddly _person around, which is why I'm surprised when she just scoots closer to me. Nestling her head against my side, I breathe out through my nose and stare straight ahead until her cries turn into occasional, soft whimpers.

"Heh… I feel like an idiot," she chuckles bitterly, drying her eyes with her sleeve. "Sorry about your jacket…"

Glancing downwards, I fake a gagging noise as I see the tear stains dotting my pristine leather jacket.

"I just had this dry-cleaned, too!" I joke, finally getting the desired reaction as she giggles slightly. "Ugh… whatever. I jacked this thing out of a store, anyways. No biggie."

Looking up to my face, Clem tearfully smirks at me. "Was that _before _or _after _people started coming back to life?"

"…before…"

"Jane!"

"Oh, come on! It was just collecting dust in that store anyways," I point out, remembering how _cool _I felt when I took it out. "Besides, it only cost like… umm… fifty-five bucks or something like that. The store wasn't using it, so why shouldn't I?"

"That's still stealing though!" she accuses, making me tip her hat down over her face. I'm pretty sure she hates it when I do that, but it's fun to tease the kid sometimes.

"I must've been sixteen at the time…" I reminisce, shaking my head at the fond memory. "Jaime had soccer practice so I was on my own for about an hour or so. I barely had a penny to my name at the time, and so I wandered on over to Value Village to see if there was anything cheap."

Confused, Clementine furrows her brow as I explain that Value Village is mainly a used clothing store.

"They had the best selection of dirty, old Christmas sweaters that you'd ever see," I remark sarcastically. "But anyways, I walked into the store thinking that it'd just be another wasted trip. I almost left the place behind, until I saw this bad boy just sitting there; ripe for the taking."

"And you didn't get caught?" Clementine asks, causing me to snort as I nod my head.

"You kidding? They were on my ass about ten seconds after I ran out the door! I lost the store manager after running for a few blocks, and by the time I got back to Jaime, I already had the thing wrapped around me. A common criminal if there ever was one."

"You're crazy…" she tells me, causing me to smirk in agreement. That I am, kiddo. That I am. "I still think you're pretty cool, though."

Squeezing her shoulder slightly, I glance down at the kid with a raised eyebrow. "Does that mean I get to be a part of your secret club up here? Do I get like a lifetime membership or something?"

Grinning, Clem nods as she breaks free from my grasp; heading over to a small stack of papers that she must've collected back when she used to live here. I bet she'd have had loads to do around here.

"Yep," she agrees, opening up the box of crayons and setting them down on the floor. Getting on her stomach, the kid lifts her feet up behind her as she pouts her lip in contemplation.

"What are you up to?"

"Thinking about what stuff to draw," she answers immediately, practically shoving a crayon into my hand as something clicks within her. "Aha! I've got just the thing…"

Staring at the utensil with confusion, Clementine snorts as she hands me a couple pieces of paper.

"You act like you've never seen one of these before! Well, don't just sit there," she encourages, shoving the box over to me. "Get colouring! Trust me, it's more fun than it looks!"

"…you've gotta be kidding me," I deadpan, holding the paper in one hand and a crayon in the other. "Seriously, Clementine? You're really gonna make me do this? I'd have better luck trying to magically shoot colours out of my fingers than to draw a fucking picture!"

"I hear _excuses_," she laughs, saying the last part in a sing-songy voice. Is this kid on crack right now? Seriously?! Drawing?!

Seeing as I don't have much of a choice, I groan before putting the paper to the floor and picking up the crayon. Grey – just like my soul, apparently. I put that one back in the box and grab something a little bit more vibrant. "I feel like a tool doing this shit…"

"I know!" she agrees ecstatically. "Isn't it great?!"

"You're having way too much fun with this, Clementine."

For the next ten minutes or so, the two of us sit in complete silence; both of us trying to finish our so-called _masterpieces. _If this is supposed to be my best work, though, I'm surprised that I even managed to pass kindergarten.

But that's not the point of this. Anything to take the girl's mind off of… recent events… is good enough for me. I can't even imagine having that weight of guilt dropped on your shoulders like that… and at Clem's age? Yikes, nobody needs or deserves to go through something like that.

That's why I've decided – no longer am I just gonna sit on the side and watch as this girl slowly deteriorates from everything she's seen. If preventing Clem from going down the same path that my sister went is to get… _close_, to her, then… fuck it. I'll do it – Clementine gave me a chance after that whole rest stop fiasco, and she's stuck by me through thick and thin.

The least I can do is not intentionally leave her again… okay, and maybe I can try a _little harder _with that stuck-up bitch out on watch right now.

But god damn it! She's so INFURIATING!

"Done," she announces, setting the thing down as she blows off some leftover crayon dust from the picture. When she looks over at me expectantly, I too put my crayon down and hold my picture up for all to see.

"Umm… ta-da?" I unveil the work of art, faking a hurt expression as Clementine tries to stifle her laughter. "What's so funny? I think it's fucking fantastic!"

"…what's it supposed to be?" she questions, causing me to scratch my head. I honestly don't know _what _this piece of shit turned into – all I know is that it doesn't look too pretty.

Displaying it in an exaggerated fashion, I clear my throat as I display it like I'm in some kind of art museum. "Well, as a trained professional like myself, I can tell you that… that…" I stutter, cocking my head to the side as I turn the picture in a circle. "…I don't have a damn clue. It started off as a dog, then it turned into a fox, then a horse (somehow), and now it's supposed to be like a unicorn or some shit. I guess it's a dog/fox/horse/unicorn hybrid, or a DFHU!"

Unable to control it any longer, Clementine falls to the side as she gets into a giggle fit.

"Hmph! I'll have you know that I worked _really _hard on that!" I tell her, letting a few chuckles escape my lips as well. "Let's see what _you've _done, then."

Delicately picking up her artwork, I widen my eyes in slight surprise. This actually… isn't too shabby. I'm assuming that it's the three of us – her, Lilly and I – sitting in… go-karts? Huh?

"Haven't you ever played Mario Kart?" she questions, still letting a few snorts go past as she glances back at my awesome drawing. "I'm Mario, you're Wario, and Lilly's the skinny, purple one! Umm… I think that guy's name was… Waluigi, or something?"

"Ahh… that's right," I acknowledge, leaning my head back as I glance at the various turtle shells and banana peels dotting the page. But something else catches my eye. "Hey, you little bum! Why do I have a moustache?!"

"Pictures don't lie," she grins, watching as I scrunch up my drawing and toss it out the window; catching a sudden breeze as it makes its way into the pool. That walker's still floating inside of it, but I don't pay it much mind.

It's just nice to hear Clem laughing again – I was afraid that that side of her had died with AJ.

"Come on," I recommend, opening up the hatch once again. "We'd better go fetch Lilly before she throws a hissy about me not taking her shift when I was supposed to. Seriously, Clem – Lilly can be such a b-"

"Knock it off, Jane…"


End file.
